11.30.11 - Blueberry pancakes

Tommy tried his first table food tonight. He liked it pretty well. A lot of it ended up in his lap, though.

11.29.11 - Excited for Christmas

It's almost December and the cold weather will be here by the weekend. That means it's almost time for Christmas and Tommy couldn't be more excited!

11.28.11 - Sleeves

Some people wear their emotions on their sleeve. Others wear food.

11.27.11 - Doesn't smell like mud

In nearly three years of raising babies, we've seen a lot of poop. But never as much at 4:30 in the morning as we did at 4:30 this morning! After we got him cleaned up, we put him in with Nate while we cleaned up his crib. I think the conversation went something like this:

Tommy: Man, did I got douched with mud!
Brother: Hey, chucko, that doesn't smell like mud!
Tommy (singing): I'm a maniac, maniac on the floor! And I'm dancin' like I've never danced before!

See the clip by clicking here. Skip ahead to the 1:33 mark.

11.26.11 - I love to see you smile

Fortunately, he smiles a lot!

11.25.11 - Favorite holiday song

Tommy's shirt today reminds me of my favorite holiday song. Click here to listen.

11.24.11 - Thanksgiving

Today we're thankful for Tommy and Maddie and Nate and all the other family in our lives. We're especially thankful to be able to spend some time with Grandma Betty today. She's lives pretty far away and so we don't get to see her all that often.

11.23.11 - On the lookout

Maddie keeps an eye out for oncoming traffic as we pull over to the side of the road for Harley to sniff whatever it was she was sniffing. It was such a nice day today we had to get out for a walk. Look for more photos of today's walk on Maddie's blog soon.

11.22.11 - Up, up and ...

Tommy's been up on all fours the past week or so. He's not crawling yet but he's starting to scoot his knees just a bit. He's progressed so much in the past month that I bet he's crawling all over the place by Christmas.

11.21.11 - Three busy bodies

Our poor Parents As Teachers parent educator must sit in her car and repeat, "I can do this, I can do this," before coming into our house for our monthly visit! Tonight was extra challenging as Angie had a prior commitment and couldn't be there. It was just me, Coco, the kids and Harley. Oy!

11.20.11 - Cheerios!

Tommy was excited to have Cheerios for the first time today!

11.19.11 - Chores

Tommy is finally able to sit up well enough by himself to play toys and keep himself entertained long enough for Mom or I to get some chores done. Of course, that stack of towels doesn't even put a dent in the mountain of dirty laundry that's in our room!

11.18.11 - Here's lookin' at U, kid

No doubt we've used that headline more than any other in three years of blogging.

11.17.11 - Pizza delivery

We decided to have a Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner tonight. Maddie and Nate both whined a little to go with me to pick it up, so I took Tommy instead! He's getting to the age where I think he notices what other people around him are doing and I think he enjoyed getting to go. At least, I enjoyed taking him! Jason, the employee who brought us our pizza, even carried it out to the car for us. Sometimes it's the little things in life, ya know?

11.16.11 - My brother, my friend

Hey, brother. Nice shirt!

11.15.11 - Feed me!

When you're outnumbered 3-2, sometimes you don't get things done as quickly as you'd like. Or, as with the case with dinner tonight, you can't keep the food shoveled in Tommy's mouth as fast as he would like. So, he just decided to try it himself.

11.14.11 - Spoons

Wooden spoons make the best teething rings!

11.13.11 - Snacks with Daddy

Everyone was glad that Mom and Dad came home from Florida!

11.12.11 - Learning my colors

Tommy found a book on colors. Glad he didn't find the dust bunnies under the sofa!

11.11.11 - The Banana Man

Maddie and Nate likes bananas so we're guessing Tommy will, too!

11.10.11 - Snoozin' with my dogs

Looks like someone forgot to take a photo of Tommy today. Oh, well. It happens to the best of us!

11.09.11 - C is for Cookie

Tommy and his siblings are hanging out with all the grandparents the next few days while Mom and Dad relax in sunny Florida! Gramma Karen shot this photo tonight while hanging out at Nan and Pop's house.

11.08.11 - Sittin' up

I guess this photo could also be called 'Crazy Sister!"

11.07.11 - Reach for it

Tommy reaches for a Puff placed juuuuuuuuuuuuuust out of reach. He eventually got it.

11.06.11 - Giggles

Tonight Maddie volunteered to read Tommy some bedtime stories so I took her up on the offer. As soon as I pulled out the camera, Tommy started laughing and then they both got the giggles. How cute are they?

11.05.11 - Baseball is over, Tommy

Tommy's taking the end of summer and the baseball offseason a little better than I am. We change the clocks back tonight and thus begins a long, cold winter.

11.04.11 - Bedtime stories with Grandpa Shepherd

I stopped by Dillons on the way home from work tonight to pick up a dozen eggs but was distracted by a display of 50% off bargain books. I sorted through and found one about a dad and his kids taking truck rides. My father had a blue truck when I was Tommy's age and later had a red one that my brother and I enjoyed taking rides in. So, I had to buy the book. Then, as it turns out, my dad came over tonight and read the book to Tommy at bedtime.

11.03.11 - Picture Day

Tommy gets into his "Sunday best" for our family photo session with Brandi today, which went about as well as you can imagine a photo shoot with three under three might go. But, we are anxious to see the results. There are sure to be some great outtakes!

11.02.11 - Snug

It's gettin' to be that time of year where we go to be with footie jams and blankets.

11.01.11 - Dog gone out

Tommy pulls his snuggly puppy over his face to block the light from his eyes as he drifts off to sleep in his mother's arms.