Winding down the day...

As I was walking out the door at work yesterday, our CEO told me he was letting everyone leave at 1pm today!! A few minutes later, he realized that we were also scheduled to be open on Monday, the 31st and promptly decided to close our office that day as well. Yee ha!! Anyway, it will be nice to have another break. We are going to our friends, Shane and Sara's, house on NYE. That should be fun.

Last night Lindi and Ben came over. They have two little girls but did not bring them by so unfortunately I doubt I will see them for a long time. However, it was nice to see Lindi and Ben. It's so funny how much parenting conversation I engage in now.

I am one of the few in the office again today. It's just so weird to be the only person on the West Wing. Alex is at home with Solomon today. He again had to shovel the driveway as we received about 2 inches of snow again last night. It's crazy. There isn't anymore forecasted for a while, although that could change overnight.

I talked to my friend Chris yesterday. As usual, he was so funny. I told him that my New Year's resolution was to stop watching Days of Our Lives and he gasped as if I had just told him I had cancer. He said he was "crestfallen"! That cracked me up. Hopefully, I can make the resolution last... just a few more days of Days.

Christmas is over

The big day is over.. It sort of depresses me because I really do like the holidays, but on the other hand, it's kind of nice to get things back to normal. I'm in the office today. It's weird b/c hardly anyone is here and not much at all is going on. In fact, our CEO called in sick today.... sick.. whatever. :) My mom is taking care of Solomon today since she is off of work.

Yesterday was fun. We exchanged presents with my parents in the morning. Solomon raked it in again, everything from toys to clothes. He especially liked his Jayhawk mobile that plays "I'm a Jayhawk". He loves it and gets mad when it's time to wind up the music again. It's pretty funny. We're training him early. The sweet little guy slept all through the night again!! It was great. I ate way way too much yesterday. My stomach hurt b/c I pigged out so much, but it was so yummy. My niece, Zoe, was wild yesterday, but I can't blame her much. There was a lot of excitement for someone that age. I can't wait to see Solomon in some of his new clothes. He has on the new outfit he received from Debbie and Jare today. It's very cute.

Just a few days in the office and then another few off! I love this schedule.

BTW, a quick shout out to Andy yesterday for his b-day and today to Bretty for his b-day!!

Our Christmas Weekend

So my boss let us all off at 1pm on Friday. That was nice. Alex and I decided to go to the mall to do a little last minute shopping. We were in a store when I felt Solomon poop. He was in the body carrier, so I just told Alex, let's go ahead and buy the shirt (he was going to try on) and then we'll go change him...Just then, I was holding onto his legs and thought he had drooled on his right leg.. Okay, NOT drool and now it was on my hand. We booked it out of there and to the unisex bathroom. We had to wait to get in but it was worth it to have two sets of hands instead of one. We cleaned him up and it took a while. He was gross and the bathroom, as most public restrooms are, was gross. The only outfit I had in the bag to change him into was a Halloween themed one. I keep it in there so if he gets messy at daycare they'll have something, but I won't miss it around the house. So, we were walking him around the mall at X-mas time in a Halloween outfit! Then, we went to Dillard's. As we were buying something, he had another loud blowout. The cashier said, "It sounds like someone had Mexican last night!" :)

After going home and relaxing for a minute, we went out to meet up with Lindi, Molly and Dan. It was SO GREAT to see them and we laughed a lot. I'm hoping to get to see Lindi's daughters before she goes home. Molly looks great pregnant.

Saturday, we (my sister, her fiance, Zoe, me, Alex and Solomon) all met up at my parents' house to head to my uncle's house. He lives in NE Kansas. The drive there wasn't so bad.. just sleeting a bit and raining. We ate too much there and in the early evening began to head home. The drive home sucked. The snow wasn't as thick as the wind was blowing initially. Then, the traffic started to really back-up b/c of the snow plows and people having to go a little slow in general. It took us about twice as long as normal to drive back. My dad was driving us, so we were able to keep Solomon occupied at least. needless to say, we were all really tired when we got home and Solomon slept really well.

Yesterday, we woke up with Solomon but when he went back to sleep we slept in as well. Then, we got up and shoveled the driveway. I have a feeling it will be a while until our cul-de-sac is snow free. It is really thick with snow. We pretty much vegged out the rest of the day and we cleaned up a little.

The biggest event for me of yesterday/today was (drum roll please), Solomon slept through the night officially for the first time. He went to bed after a big bottle (6oz.) and slept from about 9:30pm - 6:00am!!!! I was so excited. Plus, I just fed him and played with him a bit and he went back to sleep. I think he was just so tired again from playing with us all day yesterday and the crazy day before. Hopefully, it continues, but I am trying not to expect it.

Alex and I went to workout this morning and are planning to go to church with my parents this evening. Solomon is sacked out for his afternoon nap. He has on his special Reindeer outfit that Grandma bought him. It has matching shoes that are pretty cute.

Tomorrow, we plan to head to my parents' house and do the Christmas morning/presents thing. Last night, Alex and I exchanged presents. He bought me a small flat panel TV for the kitchen. That is a great gift for me b/c I always feel torn when it comes to making dinner b/c I want to watch something like a KU game more. I bought Alex an ILap. It's a thing you put on your lap and put your laptop Mac on it. They get hotter than most laptops.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Last day before Christmas break!!

Remember when you were in school and the last day before Christmas break, Halloween, and the last day of the year were pointless? That's what I feel like today. I don't want to do any work. I am actually saving some work for next week because it will be so dead around here. I do get off at 1:00pm today!!

Alex sent me this "modified" picture of Solomon today. I thought it was so funny.

We are going to my dad's youngest brother's house for the Longenecker Christmas tomorrow morning. They live in a somewhat remote area of NE Kansas. It's kind of close to Garnett. Alex has never been to their house and it's been years since I have been there. I think we'll probably go to church with my parents on Christmas Eve. Alex and I always watch the movie "Elf" that day too. Then, on Christmas Day, we'll head to my parents' house for presents and pigging out. My mom always makes monkey bread and chex mix just for me. I love those two items so much. I'm excited to open Solomon's presents for him! It's been so long since I opened any toys.

Tonight, I am going to go hang out with my friends Molly and Lindi. I haven't seen either of them in a while. Molly is preggers and I'm sure she's very cute looking. I am SO EXCITED to see them both. We will laugh a lot. I can't wait!

I think my friend Brooke is due any day now. She is having twin girls. I wish her and Andy luck!! Wow, that will be an adventure for sure.

It could be a few days before I blog again so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!!

First Week Back

My first week back hasn't been too bad. It was just so chaotic to get to work on Monday. I had so many bags... bags of diapers and wipes and his diaper bag, my laptop bag, my purse, my pump, etc.. on and on and on. It was crazy. I think Solomon is doing okay at the babysitter's house. You never know b/c he can't tell us. It drives me a little crazy, but I think he's okay. My big hope is that he's not just being left to stare at the TV half of the day from the couch. Tonight, I kept holding him in front of the bathroom mirror and letting him stand on the countertop (with my help of course). He smiled and laughed and my favorite, squealed with delight! It was so cute.

The things that annoyed me about work before are still there. I feel out of the loop too, but I don't care as much as I thought I would. It is nice to be around adults again and everyone was very nice and welcoming. I had Tuesday afternoon off to finish Christmas shopping so it's been a nice slow transition back to work.

I must go to sleep as I'm sure little man will get us up at least once!

Last Day

The final day before I return to work..

I let Solomon sleep in a little b/c I was just so tired this morning. He woke up (for the final time) a bit before 8am. We went to the gym and then to Zoe's Jitterbug performance. It's always hilarious. It's a dance class that she takes at her daycare. The kids are so funny. Most of them don't know what's going on for most of the dance, but complete a move here and there. It's pretty funny. Plus, there are always kids who get scared and just sit there and stare at the audience. Zoe gets really excited about at least once move in every dance and repeats it a lot. She also says "hi" to all of us in the audience and waves a lot... very cute.

I think we'll just relax at home tonight. Alex had a photo shoot and is on his way home. Solomon is so cute right now.. asleep on the boppy. I was trying to figure out what I need to take to the daycare for tomorrow... diapers, wipes, milk (I don't know how much to thaw), an extra set of clothes, etc...

Tomorrow, is our holiday work luncheon. On Tuesday, I get to take off at noon and plan to finish up my holiday shopping before picking up Solomon. It's just so weird to be off for three months and then go back... strange. I wish I had known what I know now at the beginning of maternity leave. I would have been a lot more laid back about things. It took me a long time to enjoy Solomon as much as I do now and even longer to enjoy my time off. It's just the craziest thing ever, but it has been a great opportunity to spend it with my new favorite person.

Snowy Saturday

It's been snowing off and on since yesterday. The roads aren't too bad though and here in
Wichita we didn't get nearly as much snow as the forecasters had predicted. That always seems to happen. Alex and I went out to lunch and grocery shopping. It was a little annoying b/c it was so cold out, but Solomon didn't seem to mind. I'm watching the KU game now which has pretty much been a blowout since the first few minutes of play. Solomon has been trying out his gift from Grandma Thomas, a singalong play stage, and I've put him in his walker a few times. His feet just graze the ground, but he smiles when I put him in there. I think he likes that he feels he can sit up on his own. He's wearing his gingerbread Christmas outfit that my mom bought for him. Tonight we plan to watch a movie and stay in.

BTW, today is Solomon's 3-month birthday.

Baby Sounds

Today on Oprah, there is a woman who claims to know what your baby wants based on the sounds he or she makes. It's pretty cool. She's isolated five sounds that mean hunger, discomfort, sleepy, lower gas and tummy gas. It does seem like she's figured it out. The babies did seem to respond happily when she told the moms what they wanted. The sounds are a little difficult for me to distinguish, but I think if you listened to them several times, they would be easier to tell apart. She says babies change their language after three months though, so I guess Solomon is on the verge... I wish I would have known this before. There was also this kid that lost his eyes as a child due to a rare form of cancer. He now "sees" with his ears. For instance, he can detect that an object is on the left side of a table in front of him and that it is glass. He can basically hear the vibrations that come off of the object based on a clicking sound he makes. Isn't that crazy and amazing?

My personal email account isn't working right now and it's driving me nuts! I can't take it.

I just switched our car and homeowners insurance today. We're going to save a lot of money every month and get better coverage. It's worth shopping around every few years even though it's a pain to do so. We are getting a small discount b/c we're now driving around little Solomon! It is true that I try to drive a little slower and safer now, so I understand why they do it and it works for us.. yea, discount!!

I'm almost finished Christmas shopping. I hope to finish up this weekend. Hopefully, everyone else is finished with theirs!

He's talking... but it's difficult to say about what.

Solomon has been talking (making sort of organized sounds) for a while now, but in the past few days to a week, they have been much more frequent. He seems to be "talking" all of the time. It seems like if Alex or I make up a response he gets so excited about it. I love watching it and hearing him. It's so cute. I wonder what he's talking about. Also, last week, he discovered his toes. He actually looked at them actively started to touch them. I can't believe I have to leave this cute little man most of the day starting next week. :( He is so sweet. Of course, give me 10 minutes and I'll be praying for him to shut up when he starts crying! :) He only got up once last night... well a couple of times, but all within one 1/2 hr. He refuses to stay asleep in the middle of the night when we don't feed him at least once. Again, I believe this might confirm that he's in the midst of a growth spurt.

Alex and I just got back from the gym. Alex has a few appointments today but decided to spend a little time with us.

Yesterday, we went with Alex to a photo shoot on the West side of town. Then, we had dinner and ran some errands. Solomon was so good the entire time we were out. He snarfed down half of his bottle at Target.

I am going to have dinner with my friend Bethany tonight. Her birthday was on Sunday, so we're going to celebrate! I'm looking forward to it. Solomon will hang out with Alex for the evening.

There's a lot to do around our house, so I'm going to try to accomplish some of that today before I go out for dinner.

Last week

I have reached my final week of maternity leave. As I've said before, I have mixed feelings about going back to work. Solomon is taking his morning nap right now next to me. He was giggly and smiley most of the weekend... such a sweetie.

My parents came over on Friday. We had pizza with them and Zoe. My mom decorated my tiny tree with Zoe. Zoe has started prefacing many of her sentences with the word, 'actually'. It's pretty cute. On Friday, they went to a local senior citizens center and sang some Christmas songs. Zoe kept telling us that "Actually, I went to sing for the seniors." At first, we thought she was talking about high school seniors. She's so funny. She's always very excited about what she has to say.

We went to KC on Saturday for my brother-in-law, Stephen's 50th B-day party. Solomon was passed around quite a bit. It's always weird for me to suddenly realize I have no idea who has my child. It was a nice visit. The food was really good. Alex videotaped the party for Stephen. We had a small ice storm on Saturday morning and on Sunday, but the highways that we spent most our time on were totally fine. The worst problem we had was that the windshield wipers kept freezing on the way up. It really wasn't a big deal though. We stopped on the way up and saw Alex's friend Adam and his wife Alyssa. Sunday morning, we had breakfast with my friend Cherie and her little guy, Eli. Solomon didn't sleep very well, but I'm not sure that it was being in a new place or just the phase he's currently in. Alex and I are contemplating the 'cry it out' method. For everyone (and believe me everyone seems to have input on this topic) who says it's a good idea to let them "cry it out", there's someone else who says to do something else. I'm not sure what the answer is, but hopefully this whole sleep thing works out soon.

Like I said, Solomon was pretty good, except for when we were driving home and he started yelling. We had to stop at a rest stop, feed him and change him. It seemed to work, at least until we got into the car again... Then, he started crying again. Since we knew all of his needs had been met, we just let him cry. He was just sick of the carseat I think. I don't blame him.

We exchanged gifts with the kids in Alex's family on Saturday as well. Solomon raked it in. My mother-in-law bought him some clothes and the singalong stage from Fisher Price. I've heard kids love it. He has to be just a bit older before he can use it. Alex's siblings bought him some clothes, toys, a cute blanket/pillow set, etc... Also, everyone gave him money for his college fund we've set up. It was pretty fun to open his presents. He was already asleep and wouldn't have provided much assistance anyway!

Today, I'm going to lunch with my cousin's Scott's wife, Kristen and need to run a few errands. The first thing I need to accomplish is a shower. There was a story on the Today Show today about how Americans take too many showers and wash away all of the good bacteria that helps prevent things like allergies, etc.. I don't care. The few times in my life that I haven't taken at least one shower in the day, I have felt disgusting and my hair becomes and oil slick. It's even worse for boys... they are gross without a shower.

A little day trip..

ugh... for some reason I have to retype this because the internet connection skipped out for a second. I am sitting at a coffee house in Winfield, KS. It's really nice and Christmas music is playing softly in the background. I am here because this is the last day of classes at Southwestern College. Alex teaches a class there on Web Design and is the p/t Online Services Librarian. He thought today would be a good day to bring the baby by to meet the library staff and for me to meet them as well of course. Anyway, I'm waiting for Alex to finish up. We will then eat lunch and head back to Wichita. The weather guys were saying that the roads were so bad, but I didn't think they were at all. It's raining mostly with a little bit of sleep mixed in. A lady who owns this coffee house offered to hold Solomon for a bit earlier. It was so nice b/c it gave me a chance to eat my breakfast with both hands at little to no risk of dropping the food all over me or him. It was very nice. Plus, I could tell she enjoyed holding him and he even smiled for her a bit! He's asleep right now and snoring softly. :)

We're headed to Kansas City this weekend for my Brother's-in-law 50th B-day party. We are also going to exchange gifts with the kids for X-mas since we won't be meeting up with Alex's family over the 25th. I'm not looking forward to packing the car up again with all of Solomon's stuff, but at least this time, I think we're going to board Coco here, so that will make it a little easier. The other good thing is that i'm going to meet up with my friend Cherie for breakfast. I haven't seen her in a while and she hasn't met Solomon yet, so that will be fun.

A set-back

Solomon seems to be back to waking up more than once a night... (sigh)... I had a small breakdown last night when he woke up for the THIRD time. Many people seem to agree with my analysis of the situation. I think he's on a growth spurt and a tummy of milk isn't filling him up for long enough. It's soooo incredibly frustrating. I have to go to his doctor's office again today so I'm going to ask what I can do, add formula to the breast milk or cereal, whatever.. I just want him to sleep longer. He WAS doing so well, sleeping around seven hours straight and then this. One thing I've learned in the last three months is just when you think you can figure out a routine or read your child's mind, they change it up on you. Babies are unlike any other creature or object on earth in that way. I'm sure it will get better, but it's super annoying right now. Everyone has a different solution and honestly I appreciate that everyone cares enough to suggest something, but I just wish there were a magic bullet for this kind of thing.

This morning, Alex and I took Solomon's Christmas photo for our Christmas cards. It's pretty cute. I was contorted in this weird position behind him so it would look like he was sitting up by himself while I was holding him.

Tonight, there is a KU Basketball game and I am excited to watch it... It's something to look forward to. I'm in the process of changing the sheets right now as well b/c Solomon pooped out of his diaper on them! Nice. I say "in the process" because Solomon is asleep on the mattress right now, and I refuse to move him until he's awake.

New Solomon Video Clip posted!

I just got back from lunch with a few friends, one I know from the MBA program and another from KSN and Feist. It was fun. We went to Jimmy John's. I can't believe how loud they had the music on in there. Way too loud.
Anyway, I'm going to the gym in a few minutes and then to a meeting with our daycare provider this evening. I go back to work in two weeks so it's time to finalize all of that daycare stuff. I'm not totally looking forward to going back, but am trying to look positively at the situation b/c I need to. I like the woman who will be taking care of him.
Regarding KU: We won an awesome B-ball game yesterday in California against USC and found out the football team made it into the Orange Bowl as well! That's great news. Mizzou didn't get a BCS bowl game. They probably got screwed there although the BCS calculations are a mystery to pretty much everyone. The way I look at it, if anyone is going to get screwed, why not Mizzou?!! :) I can't think of any school more deserving of a good "screwin'" !! I can't believe i wrote that!

Check out the video I shot of Solomon playing on his jungle gym yesterday. It's super cute.

New pictures posted

We've posted the following new albums online:
1) Scott's (my cousin) pig roast - http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/pigroast
2) Thomas family Thanksgiving and Solomon's baptism - http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/babythomas
Hope you're having a great weekend!

Solomon's two-month check-up

We just got back from our little monkey's (Solomon's) 2-month check-up with Dr. Chavez. He said Solomon is perfectly healthy. He has a little cold, but shows no symptoms except for a yucky nose. Anyway, he's growing well. He also received his immunization shots. He did not like those and promptly screamed at the top of his lungs. Poor little guy. :( It was sad. Here's how he weighed/measured in: Weight: 12 lbs. 13 oz. (80 percentile) Height: 24" (85%) Head Circ.: 40.4 cm. (70%) We go back in two months unless he gets sick before then!

Chaos

So last night, I was trying to help my mom out by booking her a plane ticket from Wichita to Cincinnatti, OH online. I've done this many times and so we both agreed it would be easier for me to do it. So, after returning from the gym, I called my mom while I was eating dinner and went over the possible flight times and costs with her. We had to call each other back 15x b/c she had to check on the timing with some of the other relatives going to the funeral in OH. Anyway, let's remember the KU game was going on this entire time. Plus, Alex was gone visiting a friend who was in town for the night. This always means that Solomon will be fussy the entire time I'm trying to get something done. After mom and I had settled on flights, I thought, "this will be the easy part." However, it wasn't quite so simple. I tried and failed three times to order the tickets through Travelocity online and finally called. I got this German guy on the phone that I could barely understand and he informed me that one leg of the flight I wanted was sold out.. ugh! Why was it online? Well, apparently it takes some time to update.. Whatever!
I went to United.com and found a cheaper flight and options he claimed were not available. Annoying. Again.. the KU game was going on this whole time and Solomon was crying off and on. I had to feed him, change him, etc... and try to get all of this done. I was irritated, but wanted to get it done. BTW, the bereavement fares were more expensive than the ones offered online, go figure! Anyway, it's booked.

Our new downstairs couch was delivered today. I like it and it should be far more comfortable.

BTW, Solomon has on his shirt that Cherie gave him that says, "mysterio perdicts I will be a donut tycoon". It's very cute. He is also wearing his little corderoy pants. (See above)

I am starving, so I will go eat lunch. Does anyone have some peanut M & Ms they could beam to me? I need some now!

Gettin' ready for the game tonight

Go KU!!

And the winner is....

Yes, last night Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves won another title, "Dancing With the Stars Champion"! It was between him and Spice Girl, Mel B in the end. I was okay with either winning, although Mel B was a better dancer. I believe mostly women vote and therefore (cutie in a fun way) Helio came out on top. It was fun to watch even though I had to stomach two songs from Celine Dion to get to the end. Fortunately, we had DVRed it, so I FFed through most of her. Everyone knows I'm a sucker for cheesy love songs, but Celine is where I set my limit. She's is so annoying.

Mr. Solomon was quite fussy all morning yesterday and half of the afternoon, but perfect (of course) when Alex came home and when I took him to the YMCA daycare! Oh well, he slept almost 7 hours straight last night, so I'll keep him another day. Speaking of Solomon, we have posted some new pictures online (see example left) of the time we tried (and failed) to stick him in a pumpkin and photograph him. The pictures are still cutie. Find them at: http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/babythomas.

Sad news, my Great Aunt Marguerite, died yesterday. My mom is going to the funeral in Cincinnatti later this week. She had been suffering from alzheimer's disease for several years. I always liked her though. She and her husband were at our wedding in 2003.

Hope everyone is having a great week so far.

Ha, ha, ha!!

I almost forgot... Solomon laughed/giggled legitimately for the first time on Thanksgiving!! So cute and exciting!

Movie/Game night/good morning

It's been such a nice morning. We put Solomon to bed a little early last night as I'm trying to get him to sleep a little longer. He woke up a little too early this morning, so after failing to get him to go back to sleep, Alex went in his room and tried to lull him as well. It didn't work, so we traded off sleep time and take care of Solomon time for the next few hours. It was so nice that we were able to do that so I don't feel like a zombie. Alex is a fantastic daddy or "papa" as he likes to be called. He calls his dad "papa" to this day. I always think of Papa Smurf from my childhood so I like the title.

Little Solomon is just having one of those mornings where he is so cute I could just eat him up. Alex decided to work from home today so we can hang out. It is nice.

Last night we watched "I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry". It was pretty funny actually and had a good message in the end. At first I thought it was going to be one gay joke after another, but it was good and funny. We watched the amazing KU game after that. It was a little scary b/c we went into overtime, but overtime is so fun when we win. Plus, Brandon Rush almost made a last minute shot from the other end of the court which would have prevented overtime. It would have been awesome.

Little Solomon is sacked out for now.

Lazy Sunday

I'm sitting downstairs watching football (blah) with Alex and his friend Sol (the Solomon we named Solomon after). I'm still in my PJs and it's 2:24.. I think I'm going to head to the gym later.

Thanksgiving was nice. I ate too much, but actually never felt like I was going to explode. Solomon was passed around constantly and was exhausted that night and the next. Yesterday, Alex and I went couch shopping and bought a sectional. Our couches downstairs are falling apart. The big one is so bad that when you sit down on it, you basically hit the box springs and fear you may be poked. It is not good at all. I think it is caused by Alex plopping down on it constantly. He came up with that explanation yesterday and yes, used the word, "plopping". :)

Yesterday was also Solomon's baptism. He didn't cry at all when Fr. Mike put his head under in the stream of water. What a good boy he was. He wore the baptism gown that has been worn in my family for several generations. It is actually 94 years old! Underneathe, he had on a special onesie that one of my mom's friends had made for him with his name, birth date, and baptism date stitched on it. He also had on his KU booties. Several members of my family and Alex's had dinner with us afterwards. We watched the KU/Mizzou game on the church's projection screens as we ate.

Unfortunately, the KU booties did not help us in the football game. We lost to the dreaded Mizzou Tigers. WE HATE MIZZOU! Oh well, it's been a good season anyway. However, tonight is the first real basketball game of the season in my opinion as we are playing Arizona. Go Jayhawks!!

We may watch some movies later today. I'm pulling for "Queen", but I doubt Alex will want to see it.

That's all for now..

Happy Thanksgiving again!

We are in Lawrence at my brother's-in-law house.  We just ate a yummy breakfast prepared by my SIL, Susan. I probably shouldn't have eaten a thing as I'm going to binge for sure later on, but you know, I had to get the metabolism working.. yeah right.

Yesterday, we drove up to KC to Nebraska Furniture Mart to look at sectional couches. We are considering getting one as our X-mas gift to each other this year. Our couches are toast downstairs.  I wasn't too impressed with anything I saw there. I want to look around some more. 

Solomon was pretty good last night, only waking up once. He was up for about an hour, but overall for being in a new place, he did well on his first overnight away from home.

I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving. I can't wait to dig in.  Tomorrow, I'm going to hang out with my friend Erin and head back home. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Again, I've put Solomon under the jungle gym arc and he's loving it! It gives me a chance to eat my lunch.

Before I forget, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDI and A VERY HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO TAMMY! I'm sorry I haven't gotten a chance to call you Tammy. Sunday and yesterday were busy. I hope you both had/are having great days.

I just made two batches of Cornflake cookies (CFCs).. They are always a hit at the Thomas family Thanksgiving. I am also bringing a pecan pie, so I'll put that together this evening. I also made pork loin for dinner. It's a very easy recipe that is so tasty. Alex really likes it.

We are going to KC tomorrow to check out Nebraska Furniture Mart and then to Lawrence after that. We'll spend Thanksgiving in Lawrence. The next day I get to hang out with Erin and her little boy, Gus! I can't wait. I'm really looking forward to that. It's supposed to get really cold tomorrow.. I hate cold!

Tonight, Alex and i have to go to a baptism class at the church where Solomon's baptism is taking place this Saturday evening. I'm not looking forward to it, but I've heard it's short and one of my other friends will be there as well, so that should make it more tolerable.

BTW, we had Coco B. Ware groomed yesterday. she looks so pretty and shiny today. I swear she knows she's pretty too. She has just been happier acting! It's cute.

One last thing, it's super windy here today and I was struggling at the grocery store to get Solomon in the car as well as grab the food. Plus, I had to make sure that either the door didn't slam on us or the car next to us or that the cart (trolley as Alex calls it :)) didn't slam into our car or the one next to us. It was annoying.. Then, a man came by and asked me if I needed help and took the cart back to the corral for me. That person is someone to be thankful for!! :)

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Beautiful Monday!

Good morning! I'm feeling particularly good b/c Solomon slept from 10pm to 4:30am this morning. He then fell asleep a little after 5am and slept until 7:10am! Sleep feels so refreshing. Solomon is currently playing on his favorite contraption of the moment, the jungle-themed playgym. He loves it and smiles and coos the entire time as he stares and kicks at the hanging objects.

I took this picture this morning. Who says "don't put baby in the corner?" Sorry for the ridiculously overused "Dirty Dancing" reference but it's all I could think of when I took it. I love looking at Solomon in his diaper. He's just so cute in it I think. His skin is browning to such a pretty shade.

It's supposed to be 79 degress in Wichita today!! We are going to take advantage of it with a nice walk soon. Alex is going to come home early from work today and we're driving to Hesston (not too exciting). There's a photography shop he wants to go to there to get his camera lens fixed. Then, we're taking the dog to get groomed at Petco. She needs a bath badly and she needs her nails clipped. They are long and hurt when she steps on my foot.

BTW, the highlight of my day yesterday... We went to my parents' house and soaked in their hot tub while my parents watched Solomon. My dad has built a wind guard around the hot tub and a holder for a TV so it (the TV) is out there year around now. That crazy Wayne is always putting together something!!

Have a great week!

Ahhh Saturday

FINALLY a relaxing Saturday.. I have no commitments today. We got up early with Solomon and hung out with him in bed for a while. He's so sweet and happy in the morning. It's my favorite time of the day with him. I'm usually not a morning person either, but he's so alert at that time. It's nice. Alex and I went to the gym, then, came home and ate lunch. I made Alex a pecan pie. I don't really like them, but he loves them, so I went ahead and made him one. Plus, I had all of this leftover lemon cake from my work feast yesterday. He can't eat any of it b/c there's buttercream frosting on the top and he's lactose intolerant... That's a big no, no.

Currently, I'm watching the K-State/Mizzou football game. This is when I will root for K-State b/c everyone knows that Mizzou is evil. Unfortunately, K-state is down right now, but they have time to come back.

In about 1/2 an hour, the KU/ISU game begins. This is another big one for us. I'm sure it will go well.

Little Solomon is conked out in the swing. Actually, I think he's beginning to stir. Alex had to go help his friend Ben move. Better him than I. I HATE moving. However, it's a necessary evil (speaking of evils) of life I guess. Plus, we will all need a friend's help doing it sometime. It will be nice to have another "couples" type of friend in Wichita. Ben and his wife, Melissa, have been living in Topeka. Alex knows Ben from high school. He is moving here for his new job.

That's all for today.

A day I can actually get stuff done!!

My mom is at my house today. She was nice enough to take the day off to hang out with me and Solomon. We switched out my and Alex's summer and winter clothing. I love doing that b/c it makes me feel like I have some new clothes since i haven't looked at them for months. This year it's even a little nicer b/c I had to wear so many of the same clothes when i was preggers. We also made the super healthy drink recommended by Dr. Oz on Oprah. It took a while b/c I had to food process all of it and then throw it in the blender to further liquefy it. It was surprisingly good and it's got to be super mega healthy for you.

I then took Solomon and we went to my work Thanksgiving Potluck. It was super yummy. I always look forward to Glenda's peanut clusters the most b/c I could eat my weight in those. I tell people that they are like crack to me. Everyone told me they thought little Solomon was cute.. It never gets old hearing it! :)

My mom and I are reconnecting in a few minutes and we are going to go run a few errands. Hopefully Solomon holds out!

I'm looking forward to the KU football game tomorrow. It's at 2:30 and it will make school history if we win this game I believe.
BTW, I was so happy last night as Brandon Rush returned to the basketball court for the first time since his ACL surgery in June!! Yea!!

Crying, Waxing and dancing...

Solomon went to bed too early last night so he woke up twice. It wasn't too hard to get him back to sleep either time, but I prefer only getting up once. I was prepared for it though when I could barely get him to keep his eyes open at 9:00. He snarfed food all night long.

Yesterday, I went to get my haircut and he started to cry a lot. I thought, "oh great, how am I going to get through this." Then, one of the other hair stylists who wasn't busy offered to take care of him the whole time! It was a life saver. Thanks Brooke!

I also stopped by work yesterday. Everyone there likes to see him. I think it's a nice break for them.

Last night, I had to drop something off to Alex at his photo shoot. He had to take photos of high school wrestlers... yucky... Anyway, when I got back home, someone had strapped Coco B. Ware to our front porch with a leash. I think it was our neighbors, the Buzzards... Yes. That is their last name. She had broken through one of the fence planks. That hasn't happened in a while b/c we had gone through most of the planks last year and reinforced them. At least she was okay, but it always scares me.

I'm watching the Today Show right now. The husband of that guy, Drew Peterson, whose wife is missing, is disgusting. I'm pretty sure he's lying about it. He tried to say his wife's mood swings and her requests for a divorce during their marriage were due to her menstral cycle. He also said he would like help with his legal bills if anyone (attorneys) out there would like to help him out. He's creepy.

I'm getting my brows and lip waxed today. I am a hairy monkey these days on my face. I need to hit the gym first. Alex is having a busy week, as the magazine publishes soon.

BTW, I wrote the article for the magazine yesterday morning. The event I went to was for all of the Wichita area schools' dance teams. It was fun to watch, but I have to say about 50% of the girls were too big and looked disastrous in the spandex/sequins, etc... It was sort of like watching a small town beauty pageant I think... a little tragic.

Half Man??

I likethis picture of Solomon b/c he looks like a baby Elvis. :)

Because I'm still on maternity leave, I watch more daytime TV than I've ever watched before. The entertainment shows are sooo annoying. Of course, they cover all of the pointless celebrity news, such as Britney getting lipo. The shows always sneak in at least one odd story though. Today's was the "half-man". There is a guy who was on Jerry Springer's show at some point apparently. I think they just like to feature him on the show because of the "circus freak" aspect. That sounds mean and I certainly don't want to seem insensitive, but why does a man who has no legs or butt fit into a celebrity TV show? I don't get why he's on there except for the fact that people like to stare at him. It's really kind of mean.

I took the car in for an alignment this morning and am headed to North High School this evening. I'm going to write a small article in this month's High School Sports the Magazine. The event I'm going to is a Spirit squad event where all of the pom poners get together and dance, strut their stuff so-to-speak. I'm sure it will be hilarious, but I get like $50 to write a quick article so it's worth it.

They started roofing our house earlier today. When I got home around 3:30, it sounded like a warzone in our house as they were beating the hell out of our roof to remove the old shingles. Now they are putting new ones on I think. I have no clue. They beat the roof so hard that one of our light fixture globes fell to the floor. Luckily, it didn't break. Coco B. Ware was freaking out. She was dying to go outside and bark at the roofers.. no no!

BTW, I want Oprah's decorator, Nate to come to my house!

Mondeeeeeeeeeeee....

I was reading Erin's blog today and cracking up about what days of the week she likes/doesn't like. Alex and I always laugh about the way many people pronounce the days of the week. There is a certain weather guy in town who says, "Mondee, Tuesdeee, Wednesdee..." etc... It drives us nutty. People on TV should know better.

Now that I've vented about that, I'll tell you about our attempt at a photo shoot with little Solomon. We tried to take a picture of him sticking out of a pumpkin. We tried putting him in with just his diaper, putting a bag around his feet, lining the inside of the pumpkin with fabric, and laying the pumpkin on its side and having him coming out of it. All of these options produced the same disastrous results. He was pissed! It was pretty sad, but as a result he slept so well last night! I think we wore him out. Alex did manage to get some pretty cute sad shots anyway.

I also related to my friend Erin's blog today about the KU game thing. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE KU basketball, but I can already tell this baby has mellowed me a bit. I think the main factor is that during each of the first four games, he has had at least one crying bought (sp?). Therefore, watching it with my full attention is impossible. Also, there's just not enough time in the day with him around for me to divert my full attention away from him to a game for a full two hours. Erin said she always used to get grouchy if KU didn't do well. I am the same. It usually resulted in some kind of argument between me and Alex b/c I would want to take it out on someone and he was the only person around... so nice of me! :)

My friend Kari is coming over soon for a visit. She is bringing yummy coffee drinks. I'm so excited. I haven't seen her in a while. She is bringing her little boy over and she is preggers again.

Tonight, we will watch "Dancing with the Stars". I think Cameron should be booted this week, but soap fans are loyal, so you never know.

KU Weekend

Oh yeah, I almost forgot... There's a KU basketball game on tonight at 7pm!!! What a great sports weekend!!

Busy weekend

As the title states, it has been a fairly busy weekend for me. Yesterday, had a morning photo shoot in Hutchinson, so I took Solomon with me to the gym and dropped him off at the "Kids Zone" while I worked out. They love him there b/c they don't get a lot of little babies, so it's kind of fun. I came back and Alex was home. His brother, Zach (Ray) was in town for a couple of hours. He and a friend were on their way to the KU vs. OSU game in Stillwater. We met them out for lunch at Cafe Asia, the site of our rehearsal dinner and a Thomas family favorite. We lunched with Zach, a Johnson County police officer and a Wichita Police Officer. Zach is a detective with the Lawrence Police Department. That was kind of interesting! :)
We went home and the rush began. I had to get Solomon to my parents' house and pick up a pumpkin so we could get to a wedding by 5:00pm. It seems like a lot of time, but I swear there's never enough time when you have to get a baby somewhere. It takes so much longer. Plus, I'm breastfeeding him, so I'm always trying to time it so I don't have to use up any of the supply I'm trying to store up for when I go back to work. By this time, Alex had been at the office of a local business that he does IT work for, for a couple of hours. He called me at around 4pm and asked if I could bring his wedding clothes with me and meet him at the church. That's what we did. He changed in the church parking lot downtown and we went to the wedding. It was a nice little old church. It was interesting b/c all but one bridesmaid, as well as the bride, was heavily tattooed. I expected this because the groom is a tattoo artist. I thought the tattoos were all pretty cool. The groom has done most of the work Alex has on his body. I was just smiling inside at what some of my more conservative family members would have thought if they had attended a wedding where so many pretty women had walked down the aisle tattooed. :)
The reception was at an older building called the "Twentieth Century Club". It's been there for decades, so it had a really nice older look inside. We were tired about an hour after we got there b/c frankly we were up early with Solomon. We just ate a lot of food b/c believe it or not, it was also catered by Cafe Asia!! Twice in one day! Good stuff. The cake was yummy too! We then headed to my parents' house to grab Solomon and watched most of the rest of the KU game on TV! I CAN'T believe they are 10-0. I never thought I would see that in my lifetime! The quarterback is now being talked up as a potential Heisman trophy candidate and if we keep winning, we could go to the national championship. Alex fell asleep on my parents' floor, so I nudged him and we headed home and put Solomon to bed.
Today, I let Alex take the 5:30 am shift when Solomon woke up. He actually woke up twice last night, but I know it's too good to be true for him to wake up only once forever! I went to the gym after breakfast while Alex watched Solomon and worked. Right now, Alex is at Sears getting new tires on our Element. I've been prepping the scene for a special picture we're going to take of Solomon. I don't want to spoil it in case it turns out really well, so I'll wait to tell you what it looks like after we've taken it. It's taken me a few hours to prepare. Solomon is asleep in his swing!! I'm read for a nap.

Boiling blood

Anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE KU Basketball. I love it so much that I decided to stay home and watch the game instead of going to dinner at A Passage to India. It would have been a free meal and a meal outside of my home, two things that rarely happen for me. Yet, I like it so much that I decided to fore go the dinner and eat something here. However, everyone in the CW Kansas viewing area missed the first 19minutes of the game, basically the entire first half. The stupid CW Kansas must have had some kind of technical difficulty and therefore was running (out of all programming in the entire world) WWE Friday Night Smackdown!! OMG, I would rather do a presentation naked under fluorescent lighting to an auditorium of thousands than watch five minutes of that show. I was dying! Alex mentioned that the WWE mayhem isn't much different than Days of Our Lives... Isn't he funny? How ridiculous is that? :) Days of Our Lives is high art.. Fine acting.. Oscar quality really.
The really sad thing is that I was reduced to the level of person that I used to hate when I worked at Ch. 3. I actually called the CW to complain/ask what was going on. Of course, the line was busy b/c I can guarantee you that literally hundreds of people were trying to do the same thing. I will never forget the night that one of the Ch. 3 weather radar maps blocked the score on a NBA playoff game. For about one straight hour, every time I picked up the phone, someone would cuss at me. I have NEVER had any group of people call me such names or yell at me so much. I now understand.....
It's halftime, so (breathe in, breathe out) I will look forward to the second half...

Scrapbooking with mom

Yes, indeed.. I spent most of the day scrapbooking/putting together the baby album with my mom. It was fun. I actually finished all I can for the most part. I left some blank pages of course for later pictures. I think it looks really good. If I see any of you, please remind me to show the albums to you. Throughout, Solomon kept breaking out in shrill screams. He's dealing with some gas issues right now! Poor guy. I guess everyone's been there before. LOL! :) It freaked Coco B. Ware out. She kept trying to come over and help, which really wasn't helpful, but she was trying....

Last night, Alex and I went to a party for a friend of ours who is getting married tomorrow. We were the only ones with a kiddo. Fortunately, Solomon just slept the whole time while people commented on how cute he was. He reallly was too! :) He was wearing the little green star sleeper that Erin and Andy gave him. It has a hood and is too cute. They had hummus from Bella Luna there... yummy!!

Tonight is the official home opener of the KU basketball season. In honor of that, little Solomon is wearing his red KU onesie and Jayhawk booties. He is also using his KU pacifier holder. He's decked out in crimson and blue!

Mom and I watched the Osmonds on Oprah today. I have to say I just love that family. They all just seem so nice. They are soooo cheesy, but you just have to love them for some reason. It's just funny to me how much I like them.

I might have to miss a little of the first half of the KU game. I am grumpy over that, but we were invited to go to A Passage to India for dinner and I feel bad not going. Maybe I'll DVR the game and just watch it that way.

Crazy night with a baby

It seems like the evenings are so much shorter now that Solomon is around. I've been going to the gym during the day since I'm home. It's also great because I can drop him off at the YMCA daycare for a bit and get away. However, last night, I decided to wait until Alex got home so we could go together. He was due home at 6pm and actually got home around 6:15 (he's usually late, it's a Thomas family thing). Anyway, by the time he got into his gym clothes, we didn't get there until nearly 7pm. We swam laps for awhile, which I always forget is very challenging. Then, we sat in the hot tub, which was nice, especially now that it's getting colder outside. By this point, it was already after 8pm. I started feeling rushed because that's what time I try to give Solomon a bath. That may sound anal retentive given the fact that Solomon is just a little baby who only breaks a sweat when he's been crying hard for a while. However, I'm trying to develop a routine for him and myself for when I go back to work. Anyway, we still had to get to the grocery store. Alex and I started to get annoyed with eachother around the soda aisle (just the first real aisle) :). Basically, I like to sprint through the grocery store while he likes mosey through, pondering each and every food decision. Ugh.. I was starving and just wanting to get home. Alex started saying things like, "Whatever you want (sigh)..." We had to try to accommodate one another. I tried to slow myself down a little, while he attempted to speed up a bit.
So, we got home and he fed Solomon from a bottle while I made dinner. As is usually the case when I cook, the house filled with smoke, so it really wasn't even safe for Solomon to be near the kitchen. I hate cooking when I'm rushed so I just turn every burner on high and therefore smoke the house out most of the time! Again, I guess I have a "patience issue." So, I finished up dinner and took it down to Alex. What show was he watching, you might wonder? I think it may be the most ridiculous new show, but that's just my opinion. It's called "Phenomenon" and he had actually recorded it! So-called "mentalists" compete for some sort of prize. Chris Angell(the most annoying and heavily bedazzled man on earth) is a judge along with some other guy. They had Hugh Heffner's girlfriends on last night as the assistants which made it even more annoying. They act like the contestants are doing really dangerous things and that we should be scared, but since we know it's all an act, why should we be scared? Just a question. I also gave Solomon a bath in the 5 min. between completing Alex's dinner and my own. About five minutes after I hit the basement with the food, he was out. The highlight of my entire evening was that he slept from a little after 10pm to 3:30am!!! Then, he didn't wake up until about 6:30 this morning. That's huge!!
I don't have anything big going on today. I think I'll go to the gym in a bit. My mom is taking the day off from work tomorrow and coming to my house. We'll work on the baby books and maybe go shopping for a while. It should be fun and I will feel productive for once.
I think I'm going to try to take a 30 min. nap before I head to the gym.

First Blog post

Hello! I finally decided to start a blog. Hopefully I can stick with it. About 7 1/2 weeks ago, I had our first child, Solomon Ray. You can see more pictures of him on our gallery at the following link: http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/babythomas. We update it fairly often. For those and other pictures, Alex and I have taken over the years, visit http://www.haverhillstudios.com/gallery/.


Times have changed
Life has definitely changed since Solomon has come along. I go to bed when he does or shortly thereafter, which is usually around 10:00 pm. We never used to go to bed that early. Of course, now whenever I look forward to anytime I can sleep. Another sign of change, I recently received my first issue of "Parents" magazine. Wow! I never would have subscribed to that even a few months ago. It's great though. Thanks Cherie for sending it to me!!

Solomon
Solomon was born on September 15th at 10:20pm. He was 7 lbs. 10 oz. and 18 1/2" long. He is great. Don't get me wrong. He was a pain at first, not so much because he was a pain, but because it was a huge lifestyle change, I wasn't used to having zero sleep, and I was a hormonal mess. It is starting to become a lot more fun now that he's a bit older. He's smiling and actually only woke up one time last night!!!

Staying home
Staying home is really weird for me. I haven't done this since I was in college. It was really hard the first few weeks. I didn't feel well and couldn't go anywhere on my own. Now, I am able to get out and have had lunch with many friends and family. I make it a point to get out everyday. I think going back to work on December 17th will be hard, but I am also excited to get back out into the adult world again. We have had a lot of visitors over the past few weeks. In fact, Phil, Amanda and Miles came by last night for a visit. Thanks for all of the well wishes, gifts and visits we've received from everyone. It's nice to know how much support we have out there.

My little man is asleep next to me right now. I think he's in a growing stage as he's been eating a ton and sleeping more the past few days.

Tonight
Tonight we are headed to the gym and the grocery store. One of the hardest things for me to do is not to eat all day since I'm around food. I'm glad we have some healthy foods around so I can pig out on those instead of chips or candy bars.

From now on
I will try to post daily. I'll definitely have time for that while I'm off work. I promise the posts will be more interesting than this one too! Before I leave, we took this picture of my family on Halloween. I think it turned out great.