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?

11.03.11 - 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!

10.26.11 - A little off the top, please

Say, wha??? I've only got a little on the top!

Maddie and Nate went to get haircuts tonight in anticipation of our yet-to-be-scheduled family portrait session. We couldn't find a sitter at the last minute for Tommy, so he got to go along, too. Oh, you should have seen the look on everyone's face when we walked through the door, carrying two and pushing a stroller. But you know what? They were so well behaved that you wouldn't have even known they were there if you didn't see 'em.

10.13.11 - Playgroup

We were invited to bring the kids to the medical school today to participate in a playgroup so that psychiatry residents could observe healthy and normal childhood development. Here Tommy gets to meet Dr. Atwal, a second year resident. She liked him until he spit up on her, then she handed him back! Well, that's pretty normal childhood development for a six-month-old!

09.24.11 - Museum Day

Today was the Smithsonian's Free Museum Day so we loaded up the crew and headed down to Botanica. We'd never been there and were quite surprised by and impressed with the Children's Garden. This time next year, Tommy will be able to enjoy it, too.

08.21.11 - First date

Tommy took his girly-friend out to celebrate his five-month birthday. You'll never guess where we went. :)

08.16.11 - Book club

Tommy sits surrounded by paper hot air balloons at the library, each representing a child who met their goal in the summer reading program. We found Maddie and Nate's balloons right where they'd left them, taped to the window near the entrance to the kids' section. Hopefully next summer Tommy's name will be up there, too.

08.10.11 - Inside the doctor's office

Want to know what it looks like taking three kids to the doctor at the same time? Well, here ya go! That's Nate eating spilled Goldfish crackers off the floor and Maddie tossing her Snuggly Bunny in the air while Dr. Green examines Tommy. We're lucky that Dr. Green allows us to combine as many appointments as possible to cut down on the number of trips we make to his Andover office. Still, this photo makes my head spin and I have no idea how he manages three patients - two of them toddlers - at the same time. Maybe he's just that good!

At his four-month checkup, Tommy weighed 18 pounds and measured 27 inches, both about the 90th percentile. His head circumference measured 16 inches, which is in the sixth percentile. Yup, a fat guy with a tiny head!

08.07.11 - McDonald's

Maddie and Nate received coupons for free strawberry lemonades from McDonald's for participating in the library's summer reading program. Normally we wouldn't opt for McDonald's, much less actually going inside, but the chance to have a free treat to break up an otherwise long weekend day was too much to pass up. And, we called Nan and Pop to join us and they did! Of course, Nan, the Chicken McNugget pusher, couldn't leave without buying a six-piece and some french fries for the kids to share. Don't worry, Tommy, you'll get some soon enough.

08.06.11 - Maybe they're brothers, too

No doubt, we'll be talking about the summer of 2011 for quite some time. To say it's been hot lately would be an understatement. But the heat finally broke just enough today to allow us an hour or so at the zoo. Maddie wanted to go to the American Farm first, where we met these guys. Who knows, maybe they're brothers, too?!!

08.03.11 - Stayin' inside

Tommy made an appearance at the medical school today but it was too danged hot to hang out in the courtyard where there was a watermelon feed underway. So instead he watched with his momma from just inside the doors where it was nice and cool.

07.23.11 - Farmers' Market

When Angie was pregnant with Tommy, there was no shortage of people who thought they were being clever in asking us, "Don't you know how that happens?" Now that Tommy is here, there are no shortage of people who think they're equally as clever in stating the obvious, "You've sure got your hands full."

And we heard it multiple times today as we pushed three kids in two strollers through the farmers' market. Yeah, we're busy. We're often stressed. Money is tight. Our house is often cluttered. Indeed, we do have our hands full. But, we were out with all three (before 9!), they were well-behaved and everything was under control, thankyouverymuch.

07.18.11 - Hocus pocus, where's your focus?

Tommy was running low on diapers so I loaded him up and made a rare father-son outing to Target. Well, rare that it was just Tommy and I. Not rare that we ended up at Target. :)

While we were there, I decided to get a slight adjustment on my glasses. Angie often asks me what my vision is like without glasses and it's always hard for me to describe. There's no decrease in brightness but everything is just a blur. So, as I stood there in the Target optical suite sans glasses, I decided to try and take a photo that reflects how I see. I cranked the focal ring to the left and fired a couple of frames.

Even dramatically out of focus, this isn't quite what my world looks like but it's pretty close. With hope, Tommy hasn't inherited my eyesight. We'll go to the pediatric opthamologist next week for an initial consultation.

07.02.11 - Fourth of July

We're doing all of our Fourth of July events early this year given that the holiday is actually on Monday. Tonight, we loaded up and went to Maize to see fireworks. Tommy sported his red, white and blue stripped jams. He was excited to go but appeared unsure of the whole experience.

06.26.11 - Theodore

Tommy accompanied me to my friend Karen's birthday barbecue tonight. He was a hit, especially with Karen's sister, Robin, and son, Theodore. Turns out, they live not too far from us so I think we're gonna have a play date soon.

06.24.11 - Little drive

Maddie wanted to go for a "little drive" tonight so we loaded up and drove around for awhile. Not too far but far enough that Maddie needed a pit stop to potty. So while Angie and Maddie were inside a QT, I snapped this photo of Tommy (and Nate.) I think Nate's got the right idea. Riding rear-facing has to be such a drag.

06.22.11 - Library

Tommy watches as Maddie returns her library books.

06.18.11 - Mac's wedding

We traveled to SE Kansas today to witness Angie's cousin's wedding. Traveling with three young children is no easy task. Keeping them from running off at a wedding is even more difficult. Fortunately, we had some help from other family members, including Uncle Brent who held on to Tommy before we departed for the reception.

06.06.11 - Thomas Aaron meets Uncle Aaron

When deciding on a name for Tommy, we were pretty sure from the start that we wanted to use the name of my Little Brother, Aaron, who I was matched with in Topeka. Of course, Aaron isn't so little anymore having graduated high school last month and now standing more than a head taller than me. Aaron and his family were back in Topeka from Cincinnati this past week so on Monday we loaded up with Tommy and made the trip up. We enjoyed lunch at HuHot, where Tommy proceeded to spit up all over my shirt*, and then visited the Sabatini art gallery at the library, where Kansas-based photographer Jim Richardson currently has an exhibit on display featuring his work for National Geographic.

*Of course, we packed extra outfits for Tommy but not for ourselves. You'd think after the third kid, we'd learn a thing or two.

05.27.11 - Not interested

It was such a nice evening that we hit up Sedgwick County Park after dinner. Tommy wasn't much interested.